Let me put it blatantly, Eskom is lying

“It sounds like the objection is just to doing business with Tegeta or the Guptas”.

She said the operational matters were between Eskom and the board. All tender decisions were independently vetted and audited.

“This campaign to kill trust in Eskom to actually portray us as if we are committed or we are bored or we are captured is nonsense”.

On Tuesday Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown intervened in the battle between Treasury and Eskom, ordering the power utility to hand over to Treasury a report on payments made to Tegeta.

Eskom said in a statement over the weekend the Treasury had not issued any conclusive findings against it on any of the utility’s coal contracts‚ and that it was cooperating with the Treasury on its investigations of the contracts.

The report also shows that Mark van der Riet and Charlotte Ramavhona – a pre-eminent scientist and a senior laboratory services manager for Eskom who were suspended in September past year after red flagging the quality of coal received from Tegeta – were justified to ring the alarm. All this was preplanned. “There was no amusing tricks about it and please stop believing lies being told by other people about us”.

The row further scarred relations in a government rocked by a police investigation of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over a suspected surveillance unit set up when he ran the tax service.

He said that all coal that didn’t meet standard specifications were sent back to Brakfontein and that coal supply from Brakfontein was reinstated after 12 stockpiles were retested and deemed to be of acceptable quality.

“I’ve asked Eskom today to release the 172-page document to the Treasury‚ whether or not – as required by Treasury – it has gone to the board … so that we can put this matter to bed‚” Brown said.

“I will act on what the department (of finance) has found”.

“I have called the chair and the chief executive and said I know letters that have to come to me must first come to the board”.

“He [Gordhan] is a man with huge integrity and is the right man for the job he is doing”, Molefe said on Wednesday, adding he holds Gordhan in very high regard. It had made significant upfront payment for capital investment by the big coal-mining companies.

Such firms include Eskom and the South African Airways, which has announced plans to raise 16 billion rand ($1 billion) for working capital and debt repayment. At the time Eskom was experiencing supply constraints during winter.

He said he did not think it was a crisis and that the responses could wait until the September board meeting.

Molefe denied not cooperating with Treasury, saying the information requested by Treasury in April was ready, but had not been signed off by the board as required by Treasury.